I’ve got bad news. Most of the time you spend looking at your analytics is probably in vain. There is too much data that tells you too little information. You thought analytics was all about using information to make better decisions, but it isn’t working. How do you go beyond just giving yourself a nice pat on the back with how many visitors you got last month? This presentation will cover how charities and non-profits can select and track the metrics that truly matter and how they can use them to make and confirm decisions that matter.

1. Metrics That Matter
Presented by Chris Geoghegan

2. Who Am I?
● Chris Geoghegan
● Product Manager at Peer Giving Solutions
● Build software for charities
● Advise fundraising consultants
● 13+ Years of Experience as Knowledge Worker

3. Who Am I?
● Chris Geoghegan
● Product Website: http://peergiving.com
● Charity Blog: http://ideas.peergiving.com
● Twitter: chrisgeoghegan
● Email: chris.geoghegan@peergiving.com

4. Who Are You?

5. Vanity
Metrics
Actionable
Metrics
Testing
Frameworks
People Then
Metrics

6. “There are three kinds of lies:
lies, damned lies, and statistics”
~ Mark Twain
metrics

8. Not a single thing on this page helps me make good decisions.

9. VANITY METRICS
Don’t be this guy!

10. VANITY METRICS ARE DANGEROUS

11. SO WHAT THEN?

12. Actionable Metrics
Actionable – Accessible – Auditable
~ Eric Ries

13. Metrics that matter are actionable.
If they aren’t answering your most important
questions then don’t waste your time.
1. How do you gain or lose revenue?
2. How do you gain or lose customers/supporters?
3. What are key benefits that people are coming to
you for?
HINT: Track the MACRO not the micro

14. Metrics that matter are accessible.
1. How easy is for any decision maker to gain
access to current reports?
2. How easy is for any decision maker to
understand and act on the metrics?

15. Metrics that matter are auditable.
Think Scientific Method. Can the metrics be
trusted, verified as accurate, and
reproducible?

16. Metrics that matter track people.
“Metrics are People too.” ~ Eric Ries
Are you tracking the behavior of smaller, logical
groups of people? Or possibly even
individuals?

17. Exercise: Identifying Your Key Metrics
1. Determine the 3-5 most important macro
metrics for your organization.
2. Test them against the questions in the
previous slides to make sure they are
actionable and not vanity metrics.
3. Map those metrics to events that can be
tracked. (i.e. visiting a specific page, clicking a
link, filling out a form)
4. Start Tracking

18. Tools
1. Google Analytics: It’s extremely likely that
your top 5 metrics are going to be either
goals or events.
2. KISS Metrics or MixPanel: Google Analytics
alternatives.

19. Metric-Based
Decision Frameworks
Funnels, Cohorts, A/B Testing

20. Funnels
● A series of events that represent a progression
towards some goal
● Identifies how many people move from the
previous event to the next one
● Funnels can represent the macro and the
micro
● Macro Example: User Lifecycle
● Micro Example: Donation form/wizard

21. AARRR!

22. AARRR: User Lifecycle Funnel

23. What’s Most Important Now?
How do people find you?
Do people have a good first experience?
Do people come back?
How do you raise funds?
Do users tell others?

24. Exercise: What’s Your Lifecycle?

25. Cohorts
● A group of people
● Share a common characteristic or experience
● Exposed to similar conditions
● Behaviour is tracked
● Compared to other cohorts

26. Examples of Cohorts
● Before & After Tests
● Time Periods
● Marketing Sources
● Product Versions
● Priming
● Demographic Information

27. Exercise: Cohorts
● Based on some of the suggestions in the
previous slides what are some relevant
cohorts for your organization you could begin
tracking?

28. Special Cohort: A/B Testing
● The Gold standard of web metrics
● Usually comparing a hypothesis against an
original
● Big changes, one at a time
● Statistical significance is important!
http://getdatadriven.com/ab-significance-test
● Ballpark = 100 conversions

29. Tools
● Google Analytics
● Funnels, but a bit limiting
● A/B with “Content Experiments”
● “Advanced Segments” can provide some help
● KISS Metrics & Mix Panel are optimized for
this sort of thing

30. Q: WHAT DO I TEST?

31. A: TALK TO PEOPLE

32. How to Talk to People
● Usability Tests
● Interviews
● Surveys
● Focus Groups

33. QUALITATIVE THEN QUANTITATIVE

34. Exercise: Put it All Together
1. Talk to people
2. Develop a hypothesis based on these
conversations
3. Identify the relevant macro-actionable
metrics
4. Design an experiment using cohorts and
funnels
5. Start tracking

35. Resources
● Google Analytics
● Setting up goals: http://analytics.blogspot.ca/2009/05/how-to-setup-goals-in-google-
analytics.html
● Setting up funnels: http://blog.kissmetrics.com/conversion-funnel-survival-guide/
● Setting up Cohorts: http://blog.rjmetrics.com/the-best-method-for-cohort-analysis-in-
google-analytics/
● A/B Testing: http://support.google.com/analytics/bin/answer.py?
hl=en&answer=1745147
● KISS Metrics & Mix Panel
● Their documentation site explains how to setup events, metrics, funnels, cohorts, and
run A/B tests
● http://support.kissmetrics.com/
● https://mixpanel.com/docs
● Usability Testing & Interviews
● http://www.amazon.ca/Rocket-Surgery-Made-Easy-Do-It-Yourself/dp/0321657292

36. Thank You!
● Chris Geoghegan
● Product Website: http://peergiving.com
● Charity Blog: http://ideas.peergiving.com
● Twitter: chrisgeoghegan
● Email: chris.geoghegan@peergiving.com
● SlideShare: http://bit.ly/MetricsThatMatter